| 15,000 BC |
Cave paintings first appear in France (see Lascaux Caves) |
| 4000-2500 BC |
Neolithic revolution |
| 58-51 BC |
Caesar's Gallic Wars |
| 43 AD |
Lyon becomes capital of the Gauls |
| 100-200 AD |
Christianity arrives in Gaul |
| 300s AD |
Barbarian invaders: Franks, Vandals, and Visigoths |
| 482 |
Clovis I becomes king of the Franks |
| 482-751 |
Merovingian Dynasty |
| 486 |
Clovis converts to Orthodox Christianity |
| 573 |
Gregory becomes bishop of Tours |
| c. 575-591 |
Gregory of Tours writes the Historia Francorum, a valuable source for French history |
| 599-600 |
Pope Gregory the Great criticizes Bishop Serenus of Marseille's destruction of images, saying that pictures are useful for educating the illiterate. |
| 732 |
Charles Martel stops the advance of Muslim invaders in the Battle of Tours |
| 751-987 |
Carolingian Dynasty |
| 751 |
Pepin the Short is elected king of the Franks |
| 755 |
Franks protect the church against Lombards and create the papal states |
| 768-814 |
Charlemagne reigns as king of the Franks |
| 790-792 |
Charlemagne's court produces the Libri Carolini in response to the Byzantine iconoclastic controversy |
| 800 |
Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III |
| 910 |
Abbey of Cluny founded |
| 987-1328 |
Capetian Dynasty |
| 1066 |
William of Normandy invades England; Battle of Hastings |
| 1095 |
Pope Urban II calls for the First Crusade |
| 1120 |
St. Denis Cathedral is rebuilt, marking the birth of Gothic architecture |
| 1189-92 |
Third Crusade |
| 1202 |
Fourth Crusade |
| 1209 |
Pope Innocent III calls for Albigensian Crusade against heretics in southern France |
| 1305-1378 |
Avignon Papacy |
| 1337-1443 |
Hundred Years' War |
| 1494-1559 |
France and Austria at war over Italian territories |
| 1519 |
Leonardo da Vinci dies in the arms of King Francois I |
| 1562-98 |
Wars of Religion (Protestant vs. Catholic) |
| 1572 |
St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in Paris (Protestants killed) |
| 1589-93 |
King Henry IV adopts Catholicism, ending Wars of Religion |
| 1643-1715 |
Reign of King Louis XIV, the "Sun King" |
| 1685 |
Louis XIV revokes the Edict of Nantes |
| 1694 |
Birth of Voltaire |
| 1769 |
Birth of Napoleon Bonaparte in Corsica |
| 1778-83 |
French kingdom supports the American Revolution |
| 1789 |
French Revolution and issuance of Declaration of the Rights of Man |
| 1792 |
Monarchy abolished in France |
| 1793 |
King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette executed in Paris for treason |
| 1794 |
Ropespierre overthrown, ending the Reign of Terror |
| 1799 |
French soldiers discover the Rosetta Stone |
| 1803-15 |
Napoleonic Wars expand the French Empire |
| 1804 |
Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor Napoleon I |
| 1814 |
Napoleon abdicates and goes into exile in Elba |
| 1814-24 |
Reign of King Louis XVIII |
| 1815 |
Napoleon enters Paris, but is defeated at Waterloo and deported |
| 1824-30 |
Reign of Charles X |
| 1830-48 |
Reign of Louis Philippe |
| 1852 |
Bonaparte's nephew crowned Emperor Napoleon III |
| 1870-71 |
Franco-Prussian War |
| 1889 |
Eiffel Tower built in Paris |
| 1895 |
Lumiere brothers invent a portable movie camera |
| 1914-18 |
1.3 million Frenchmen killed in World War I |
| 1919 |
Peace Treaty of Versailles |
| 1929-39 |
The Depression |
| 1939 |
France declares war on Germany |
| 1939-45 |
World War II |
| 1940 |
Paris falls to Germany |
| 1944 |
Allied forces land at Normandy leading to liberation of France. Charles de Gaulle sets up provisional government. |
| 1956 |
End of French colonial rule in Morocco and Tunisia |
| 1962 |
End of French colonial rule in Algeria |
| 1969 |
Charles de Gaulle leaves office |
| 1995 |
Jacques Chirac elected president |
| 2002 |
Euro replaces Franc as official currency; Chirac re-elected |
| 2003 |
More than 11,000 people die in severe heat wave |
| 2004 |
National Assembly backs controversial bill banning overtly religious symbols in state schools |
